On May 28th, a 3-year-old told his mother he was going to crawl into the gorilla exhibit at the CInncinnati Zoo. She was "momentarily distracted by other children," claimed a witness, according to CNN, and her son did just that.

He exploited a weakness in the enclosure's fencing and crawled inside. Then the nightmare began.

The boy's mother was investigated for, presumably, child endangerment. However, local prosecutor Joseph Deters said that, "By all accounts, this mother did not act in any way where she presented this child to some harm ... She had three other kids with her and turned her back ... And if anyone doesn't believe a 3-year-old can scamper off very quickly, they've never had kids."

These remarks are in response to a public that has called for her arrest, questioned her parenting skills, decried the number of children she had with her (four), and mostly screamed about the death of an endangered gorilla. The mother is black.

On Tuesday night, 2-year old Lane Graves was wading in less than a foot of water at Disney's Seven Seas Lagoon, with "No Swimming" signs prominently posted. The parents were not in the water with the child when he was snatched by a 4- to 7-foot alligator.

The public has not called for the parents' arrest. While some have decried their parenting, the hysteria heaped upon the black mother hasn't burdened them. Most people have called for prayers. This despite the "No Swimming" signs, the perfect storm for an alligator attack (a dark night in May or June in shallow water).

There has been no talk of charging the white parents, who were watching a movie at the time and keeping their daughter in a playpen 20 yards from the shore.

Why do we question the black mother's parenting? Her momentary glance away must be justified over and over. Why do we cry for the white parents? Most people gloss over Graves allowing their toddler to wade in a "No Swimming" area while they stood outside the water, at an unspecified distance.

This shows, in stark detail, the way America views black and white parenting. Black mothers have too many children; they're seen by the bulk of society as neglectful and incompetent. A child is attacked by an animal; we castigate the black mother for her neglect and we mourn for the heroic white parents.

The black mother has suffered a savaging on the internet and television.

The Graves family should thank God they had the privilege to be born white. Through no virtue of their own, they'll be spared the investigations and castigations suffered by their black counterpart. They won't suffer as much in the court of public opinion; the bulk of the public is mourning Lane, not blaming them for his death.